How to level up characters fast in Duel Links

Leveling up characters in Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Links unlocks cards, skills and gems. The problem is that it takes time. Here is what really speeds it up, and what only looks like it does.

Quick summary

Pick the character for the rewards it gives, not for the level it already has.
Duels against Legendary Duelists at high levels give a lot more XP.
Use the XP campaigns and a deck that wins on its own in Auto-Duel.

1. Pick the right character

Each character has a list of level rewards: exclusive cards, skills and gems. Before you start, open the character screen and see at which level the card you want drops. Sometimes the card that completes your deck is at level 14 of a character you never used.

Low-level characters also still hold all the gems from their first rewards. That is why leveling someone new usually pays more than pushing your main. See also how to farm gems.

2. Use Auto-Duel with a deck that wins alone

XP comes from duels, so the more duels per hour, the faster the character levels. The game's own Auto-Duel helps a lot, but it only works well with a simple deck: strong monsters, few cards that need choices and nothing that depends on long combos. A farming deck that beats the map duelists by itself is worth more than your best PvP deck.

Important: decks are saved per character. When you switch characters to level up, remember to build or copy your farming deck into that character's slot.

3. Duel the Legendary Duelists at the Gate

The Legendary Duelists at the Gate give a lot more XP than regular map duelists, and the XP grows with the level you choose. If your farming deck can handle it, pick the highest level you almost always win. Losing a high-level duel pays less than winning a mid-level one.

4. Use the XP campaigns

From time to time the game runs bonus XP campaigns (like x1.5). On those days every duel is worth more. That is the time to keep the game dueling as much as possible.

5. Do not leave the map idle

Map duelists come back over time. If nobody duels them, they pile up to the limit and the respawn time is wasted. Players who clear the map every time it fills level up much faster, even playing the same number of hours.

To refill the map right away, use Duel Orbs.

6. What does not help

Switching worlds to find more duelists. In our tests, changing worlds did not bring new duelists: the respawn timer is the same for all of them.
Playing Ranked just for XP. Duels are long and you lose some of them. For leveling, duels against the computer pay more per hour.

Level up while you sleep

DuelFarm duels on the map with Auto-Duel, uses Duel Orbs, does the Gate at the level you choose and plays events, all on your PC and by itself. It never plays PvP and never spends gems.

Try it free Windows PC and the Steam version of Duel Links only. No sign-up, no card.